meta-analysis

Although the placebo effect is a well-known psychological phenomena, it is sometimes overlooked in exercise studies. We focus on how much a supplement, technology, or treatment enhances performance as compared to a placebo, although placebo effects may account for a large portion of...

A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults.Morton RW1, Murphy KT1, McKellar SR1, Schoenfeld BJ2, Henselmans M3, Helms E4, Aragon AA5, Devries MC6, Banfield L7...

Reduced muscle mass and strength, commonly accompanied by increased body fat, are common signs in all forms of hypogonadism (primary, secondary, classical or functional).1,2 One of the best documented effects of testosterone therapy is an increase in lean body mass3-6, which is mostly attributed...

A common concern in the fitness field is that high protein intakes can impair kidney function. Unfortunately, this theory has been based off of studies or clinical work involving individuals with pre-existing kidney disease. If you do NOT have kidney disease, it is highly unlikely that a high...

Beetroot is a common addition to many pre-workout blends as it has been shown to increase nitric oxide production which can enhance blood flow and pumps. This can also benefit endurance performance, but likely won’t have any immediate effect on strength or size gains. There are several ways to...

Many trainers advocate for using slow and controlled lifting tempos as they believe this will lead to greater growth. However, this review found that lifting tempo has no effect on muscle growth. Furthermore, extremely slow tempos were actually less effective for growth than fast tempos. Let the...

Many trainers and coaches preach the importance of the lowering portion during lifting as they believe it to be more important for growth. The reality is that many of the studies that show this to be the case used greater loads during eccentric-only training compared to concentric-only training...

This review found that training a muscle group more than once per week was optimal for growth. However, for various reasons, no significant difference was found between training a muscle group twice per week or three times per week. Increasing training frequency is an easy way to increase...